Chiroptophobia (fear of bats): symptoms, causes, treatment

Chiroptophobia is the persistent and intense fear of bats.. It is a phobia of a specific type that, as such, can be a major trigger for anxiety responses and even panic attacks. It is a rare fear and related to the transmission of threatening information about this animal species.

We will see below the main characteristics of chiroptophobia as well as its possible causes and treatment.

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Chiroptophobia: fear of bats

The word “chiroptera” (chiroptera) is made up of the Greek “cheir”, which means “hand”, and the term “pteron”, which means wings. It is the formal way of calling mammals that develop wings on their extremities, which we know as "bats". In turn, the word "chiroptophobia" is made up of the same Greek words, followed by the term "phobos" which refers to fear or fear. In this sense, chiroptophobia is the term that refers to the fear of bats.

When manifested in the presence of a specific animal, chiroptophobia It is considered a type of specific phobia

. However, it is not a common phobia. Specific animal phobias occur most often towards snakes, spiders, mice or rats, some insects, and birds.

In these types of phobias, the fear is usually not towards potential harm. That is to say, people recognize that the animal does not represent a significant danger to their physical integrity. However, this recognition does not reduce the anxiety response, since fear is generated by the physical characteristics of the animal.

Specifically, fear is related to the movement that the animal produces, especially if it is movements difficult to anticipate (for example, sudden fluttering), which in the case of chiroptophobia is very evident. Fear is also caused by the physical appearance of animals, which may be related to negative stereotypes about them and with feelings like disgust.

Likewise, in the case of small animals that can evoke a perceived danger (for example snakes) fear is the main reaction, and disgust is the secondary reaction. The opposite occurs in the case, for example, of rats, mice and bats. Finally, fear is related to the sounds they produce and the tactile sensations that animals generate upon human contact.

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main symptoms

As with other phobias, chiroptophobia triggers an immediate anxiety response. The latter can occur before direct exposure to the stimulus, or before the possibility or anticipation of exposure. Due to the activation of the autonomic nervous system (in charge of regulating our involuntary movements), the most common response is a picture of anxiety including sweating, decreased gastrointestinal activity, hyperventilation, rapid heart rate, and sometimes a seizure panic.

Likewise, there may be a fear of the symptoms themselves or that a panic attack will be triggered. In the same way, there may be a social component: many people feel frightened by the possibility of making a fool of yourself when other people notice the reaction.

In general, specific phobias to animals begin in childhood (before the age of 12), although not necessarily, and occur more frequently among women.

Possible causes

One of the main hypotheses about the causes of specific phobias is that they derive from common basic fears in the human species, generated by phylogenetic evolution. This same hypothesis maintains that the most common phobic fears are of a situational type, of the natural environment, of diseases and finally of animals.

Along the same lines, animal phobia is usually explained by the theory of biological preparation, which says that a stimulus is more likely to become phobic when it poses a threat to the survival of the species. That would include the fear of attacks from different animals.

On the other hand, animal phobias are usually explained by the sociocultural variables that surround our interaction with them, as well as by early learning about danger and possible threats.

In other words, the expectation of fear has to do with the transmission of threatening information, which refers to the warnings received about the danger of the stimulus.

Thus, chiroptophobia can also be generated with the negative connotations associated with bats. In this sense, it should be noted that, contrary to what is thought, of the 1,100 species of bats that exist, only 3 feed on blood. The vast majority eat insects and fruits, and in some cases small vertebrates.. For this reason they are an important species for pest control and seed dispersal.

Finally, as with other phobias, one of the main causes is previous negative experiences with the phobic stimulus (in this case with bats). Such experiences may have been direct or indirect, and are potential triggers when they match the previously acquired expectation of danger. Likewise, fear expectations are reinforced by not having had positive experiences with the same stimulus.

Psychological treatment

There are different psychological techniques that allow you to modify fears that have become phobias, as well as reduce the anxiety response. One of the most used in the case of specific phobias to animals is the technique of exposure in vivo and some techniques of exposure in the imagination. Both have effects such as reducing fear, avoidance behaviors, and negative appraisal of the stimulus that causes both the phobia and the repulsion.

In combination with the above, participant modeling or learning by observation is used, which is a form of accompaniment in which the person observes the behavior of another and tries to imitate her At the same time, you receive feedback on both physical and verbal or behavioral responses.

The problem specifically in the case of animal phobias, such as chiroptophobia, is the difficulty in being exposed in vivo to their natural environments. Given this, exposure techniques have been generated by virtual reality, exposure techniques by imagination and systematic desensitization.

Bibliographic references:

• Bados, A. (2005). Specific phobias. Faculty of Psychology. Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment. University of Barcelona. Retrieved October 8, 2018. Available in http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/360/1/113.pdf.